Behind The Beats: An Interview With NYC Producer Ras Beats

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here’s one thing to love and admire the golden era and draw influence from it while incorporating it into contemporary sounds, and then there’s having lived it—and building/adding to a sound that never truly died. Enter Ras Beats, a producer who’s making some of the hottest underground New York flavors out right now; he’s just getting started.

He has a track record of dropping some super flame singles on his imprint, but 2016’s Control Your Own is his first full-body of work, and it features an impressive cast of rappers, including Elzhi, Roc Marciano, Masta Ace, Sadat X, and more.

Ras had a Q&A with AAHH last year when the project dropped but linked up with is again recently to chat about his past, his motivation, and what’s next. Check out the interview below, and if you’ve been sleeping on Control Your Own—[*slap]—wake up!

Your music is very nineties hip hop. Have you been doing it since that era?

Yep, I have. I spit out the first record on my label in 2003, and I was at it before that. I was doing stuff in the nineties. It’s a tradition I follow, but I always tell people, I try to add on to it, make something new out of something that came before what I do, so that’s it. Yeah, I’ve been doing it for a minute.

What keeps you motivated? Because you’re completely not following the wave at all—what makes you go that route, and keep it so traditional?

Making music to me, it just comes organically. A lot of times, I’m listening to a record, and all of a sudden, I’m like, ‘yeah, I’m going to start messing with this right now.’ I kind of just go by stuff that I would like to hear. To me, there are trends that come and go, but I’ve figured out what I think I’m good at, so I try to keep working on that, keep getting better at what I do, and not worry about trends. Trends come and go, so I feel like there’s going to be a time the grittier production style might be a little more in fashion than it is right now. I’m just doing what I do, and sticking to what I think I’m good at, and really working on that part of the craft.

Do you see a shift in the industry more towards your style? Because I do, in a way. There’s a lot of younger artists coming in that are jumping on it.

Yeah, to me, it’s like with listening to music–from doing production to digging–I listen to all kinds of shit. I’m wide open. I listen to anything, and if I feel it, I feel it. But with hip hop, I like different styles, but I like it to have a little bit of grit and be authentic to whoever makes it. If you’re an MC or a producer, and you just follow what everybody else is doing, you might still make some good stuff, but a lot of times you don’t, because you’re just doing a carbon copy of what everybody else is doing. Sometimes it comes to a point that people are like, I want to hear some stuff that’s you. I think that’s what happened with Alicia Keys, just to switch to another style of music. Artists like that, people were starving for somebody who wrote her own songs, played the piano, sung her heart out, so it was lacking that authenticity. So, I think that style in most of my production has been around, but definitely getting more attention now than it has in the last couple years for sure. I definitely agree with you on that.

What have been some of your highlights so far?

Personally, the highlight for me was the album. It’s the biggest piece of work that I put together myself, and I took my time with it. Before that, there was a single I actually put on the album as well with Master Ace and Sadat X, that was a big highlight for me.. A couple of lesser known records that I put out on my label as well that just meant a lot to me personally, but definitely the album so far. Most definitely. Not even close, that’s the biggest piece of music for sure.

What are some of the other things that you’re putting out on your label? Do you have artists on your label?

Yeah. There’s a guy on Control Your Own named JBiz who was on two tracks; the first record I put out with him, was a song called “Ninety Five” that we put out in 2003, which did well. That was the strictly vinyl era, so we made some noise with it back then. That was a dope thing, and goes back quite a bit. That was the first thing we put out. I put out an EP also in 2006 that was vinyl, and we did some digital with it. That was five songs, and JBiz was actually on it too. I did a song too with Neek The Exotic who’s down with Large Professor and stuff a couple years ago, and that was pretty dope. That was on his previous album, too. And then I’ve done a lot of under the radar stuff, so I’m trying to be on the radar these days. That’s what I’m trying to do now [*laughs]. I’m trying to focus on that part.

So, what are some of the things you’re working on now? Because the last couple times we were trying to connect you were in the studio. What do you have in the pipeline?

I’m in the early phase of the next project–it’s going to be me and one MC. I’m almost ready to let it out of the bag, but I’m still keeping it under wraps because I don’t want to say anything until it’s official. Also, I’ve been doing a lot of stuff for different people—a joint here, a joint there—and some of that should start coming out in like March and April!

Riley here — father, artist, videographer, professional writer and SERIOUS hip-hop head. I'm a member of the Universal Zulu Nation, and I think everything is better on vinyl.
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Today South Florida artist CameronAirborne, drops the music video for his song “No Cuffin” featuring buzzing rapper Jackboy. In the Andrew Colton directed music video, listeners get a hazy and psychedelic visual to go along with CameronAirborne‘s catchy Summer bop.

“The beat was a collaborative track with K.E. on the Track. He laced up the beat and I got Jackboy on there for the hook too. It’s just real catchy, we shot the video for the track and it just a had kind of club or pop vibe to it. It’s definitely a Summer song and its very upbeat and kind of fast paced, it def keeps the head nodding.”

Combing elements of guitar and singing, CameronAirborne has found a lane doing his own thing combining it all with rap after performing in a band early on in his career.

“I play guitar because I had played in a band before and I ended up rapping. It gave me stage experience and the drive to want to do my own thing.” CameronAirborneexplained. “I branched out and started doing my own music and I always wrote my own poetry so transitioning to rapping was natural. I can make trap music, I can make pop catchy sounding music and I can make real lyrical stuff too. When I put out a projects I try to put out a little something for everyone to take something away from the project.”

Although most of the world has been shut down over the past few months with COVID-19, Cameron Airborne remains busy producing instrumentals and gearing up for his own studio where he will be able to record artists there.

“Im just on the independent grind, I’m opening up my own studio and that way I can make money, just recording and doing sessions,”CameronAirborneexplained. “I’ve been producing my own instrumentals and so I have a lot of music lined up and some big features tucked away for the right time to present them.”

The Dallas-native has singlehandedly chronicled a resume that will be studied and attempted to be emulated for generations to come. Platinum singles, a-list collaborations, critically-acclaimed mixtapes, stamps from legends like Chris Brown, L.A. Reid and the late-Nipsey Hussle and all of this before even releasing a debut album. Today, the “That’s On Me” hitmaker talks about his journey to the top with correspondent Boom in a new interview for 50 Cent outlet, Thisis50.

During the interview, Yella Beezy talks Dallas’s current musical landscape, provides details on the new album, bad contracts, business outside of music, Drake, Nipsey Hussle, Errol Spence Jr, L.A. Reid and more. Baccen Beezy is currently promoting his new single, “Keep It In The Streets” as he readies a new single with Young Thug, titled, “Headloc,” scheduled for release this month.

Recently Dallas, Texas rapper Fat Yunginnand Cash Money Records are happy to announce the Pleasant Grove rapper’s signing to their iconic rap label. Pictured above with Birdmanand Ronald “Slim” Williams, this young upstart has officially inked a deal with one of the most iconic Hip-Hop/Rap labels in the history of music.

First getting notoriety for his song “Sack Up” in 2016, Fat Yunginn says he always wanted to sign with Cash Money Records and that it’s a “perfect match.”

“I grew up off Cash Money, I grew up listening to them. I ain’t gonna lie I always wanted to be on Cash Money and I always wanted to sign with them. I don’t really go off what other people say or what they do and say about Cash Money. Birdman came up talking about he was the #1 Stunna and if you listen to my flow you can hear my ooh flow fits with this brand. Sack Season / Cash Money Records. It’s a perfect match.”

Raised in Dallas’ Pleasant Grove, Fat Yunginn drew inspiration from his father’s passing and from there began to take off on the strip club scene in Dallas.

“I’m from Dallas Texas, from a hood out there called Pleasant Grove. I started doing music once my Pops passed away and I just took to music and it was just going up from there. Once I dropped Sack Up it went crazy in the strip clubs and so after that I started taking it more seriously. One night I went in the strip club and tipped a couple of females and this big DJ in Dallas named DJ Hit That began spinning it. It took off from there and I did my first paid show off that song,” Fat Yunginn said. “As far as Dallas and the surrounding areas I was able to perform Sack Up out there and I was able to build up my brand. We’re called Sack Season Ent, but we call ourselves Sack Babies. Anything that has to do with a sack of money we about that. Thats basically how they know me around here.”

“I got another song called Show My Assthats another club banger with YellaBeezy and we gonna release that one through Cash Money. I got the visual for my next track, it’s just to get my sound out there a little more and my ooh flow. Its my ad lib you can hear in a lot of my songs. Then I have another with Rylo Rodriguez and another one with Euro Gotti. I got a lot of unreleased music I can’t wait for the fans to hear it,” he added. “I can get in there and start from scratch, the ooo flow, I have fun in the studio. When I came up with the ooh flow I was just playing around people have just been gravitating towards it.”

This week Gabby and Madi serves up their rendition of K.P. and Envyi’s classic hit “Swing My Way”, with a 2020 spin by producer justdoitBRISK. The teen duo have been blazing new trails with young audiences, delivering single after single in recent months. Check out their latest, “Swing My Way” here.